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Caroliner

Caroliner is never just Caroliner, from album to album they change their name ever so slightly, some amusing examples are: Caroliner Rainbow Hernia Milk Queen, Caroliner Rainbow Open Wound Chorale, Caroliner Rainbow Wire Thin Sheep Legs Baking Exhibit or Caroliner Rainbow Scrambled Egg Taken For A Wife. Yes, the "rainbow" part of the name is repeated often, but it is generally accepted that the band name is simply Caroliner. This San Francisco collective is probably the only group to have successfully carried on with fellow Bay area legends The Residents' legacy of the weird. There is no describing just how strange these guys are. Some tracks might sound like circus music, the next one like appalachian folklore and the next an over-the-top thrash tune with clownish vocals. No matter what you hear however, it will always get you off kilter and most probably put a smile on your face.

To keep in the spirit of weirdness, even the cover art for each of the groups releases bears this cryptic vibe; hand drawn and pasted pieces of paper, lyric sheets with lettering so small it is almost impossible to read (or differentiate it from other drawings or info), discarded rubbish included in the package, old clothes, anything! Even the records themselves (Caroliner pretty much releases their work exclusively on vinyl) often have their own little particularities; locked grooves before the side even begins, music grooves going way beyond the reach of the needle (past the middle part), well you get the idea. All this just adds to the playful side of the group which culminates during their live shows where the group are in extravagant costumes so formless it is hard to distinguish performer from setting in the fluorescent black lighting.

I have to thank Mats Gustafsson of The Broken Face for making me discover this band. We met at a Dead Texan concert in Stockholm and we were talking about bands that or partners couldn't stand and he mentioned Caroliner; I felt so ashamed not to know them that the next day I ordered an LP. I plan on getting them all eventually, but up until now, I've only bought them sporadically, one at a time.

Just thought I'd point out that, considering the groups prankster ethics with the media on which they release their material, the track lengths are approximate and according to me, some songs might actually be two songs, half of one song included in the next, heck it might even be the wrong song altogether, but I did my best to figure it out and I welcome any corrections.

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